BottomOfTheBarrel

I had a lot of hope for this novel but unfortunately, it has really fallen below my expectations. My problems are similar to other peoples but truthfully, I wouldn't even mind a simp mc or dense mc. honestly, it would probably be an improvement. My main problem is how toxic their relationship is. it starts off as a typical well written Isekai romcom between the mc and the villainess he wants to protect. A few dozen chapters in though, it devolves into two borderline psychopaths locked in a toxic codependency that is uncomfortable to read about. The main character and heroine repeatedly have inner monologues about how little everything else matters and how they don't care about anyone but each other. Heroine at one point almost kills a girl for trying to talk to the mc and the mc stops her. Then thanks her for holding back (she didn't, he held her back.) And afterwards, tries to shift the blame and punishment to himself. The story basically becomes a few paragraphs of fluffy rom com interactions between mc and heroine followed by a few paragraphs of one of them being deplorable to random other characters and the other accepting or justifying it. Maybe it gets better but I'd rather leave it up to the imagination than continue to suffer through their toxic and hard to read interactions. the author certainly has talent but the story just isn't there.